


Salt the Fields and Raze the Heart: A Caelum Meta re That Scene

by rachel614



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Caelum Lestrange: a character analysis, F/M, Inspired by The Rigel Black Chronicles, Major Character Death: The Good Ship Caelum/Harry, Meta, OG posted on the DOSCORD, but maybe there is a resurrection, maybe MBM, not me, this is my attempt to rationalize my ship, this is not up to my usual polished standards but I don't care, tho tbh I am probably more wounded over harry/boots, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29087082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rachel614/pseuds/rachel614
Summary: A meta analyzing the interaction between Caelum and Harry in The Futile Façade Ch. 14.Spoilers, obviously.
Relationships: Caelum Lestrange & Harriet Potter | Rigel Black, Caelum Lestrange/Harriet Potter | Rigel Black
Comments: 17
Kudos: 72





	Salt the Fields and Raze the Heart: A Caelum Meta re That Scene

**Author's Note:**

  * For [All the Caelum-Harry shippers](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=All+the+Caelum-Harry+shippers).



> As those intrepid souls who backread the entire #new-chapter in the DOSCORD know, my first reaction to the latest chapters of The Futile Facade went something (or exactly) like this:  
> "OKAY SO  
> the good ship caelum/harry has IMPLODED"
> 
> this was sadly misunderstood by some people to mean that i _don't_ ship Caelum/Harry, which is a graev misunderstanding indeed. If I ship Harry with any one with two legs, it is Caelum. Even if Harry/Boots/Potions/Happiness is the only True S2.
> 
> as an apology to my fellow shippers and in an attempt to rationalize my casual t!fishing on an increasingly destabilized marine transportation I wrote this thing, which was promptly buried within the monstrosity that is #new-chapter. 
> 
> Thus I have now immortalized it on ao3 for your enjoyment :)

On rereading the Scene of Doom:

> "What's absurd is the idea of you slumming it in the alleys for four years instead of attending school like a normal person." Lestrange sneered, and she saw through it to the jealousy beneath.

and

> Something about the anticipation in his voice made her think he'd been dying to rib her about the scandal

make me think that this is actually just normal Caelum, except he doesn't realize that Harry is too stressed/upset to deal with him cheerfully (as she always has in the past), or that he's pushing particularly sensitive buttons atm. If you think about it, in the past while Harry has called him out on his bigotry/assholery before she also has never rejected him for it either (unlike most people). I think he was expecting her to react in the same way, and _she might have_ , except that there's a deeper issue. Something that's been bothering her for a while but that she pushed to the back of her mind so long as the Ruse lasted, not wanting to disrupt the status quo. Notice how the tone of the conversation and Caelum's body language changes when her question about the Liberespirare "slipped out".

> Lestrange went still. "I...sold it."

The pause, and a denial. He's knows he's done something wrong. When she pushes him "I don't think so":

> He was on the attack before she could register the snarl on his face.

He's defensive, and being Caelum, does what Caelum does: escalate, throw some slurs in, accuse her of aiding and abetting blood identity theft (a crime that could get her in deep deep shit)

this is where the shit (for Caelum) gets real:

> She didn't understand the intractable hate in his eyes. She couldn't comprehend his point of view at all--what did it cost him, who had everything, to admit that a halfblood was good at something?

This is pretty hard to argue around, but it's important to recognize that his is through Harry's halfblood-colored glasses. Caelum "had everything", but does he really? He's jealous of Harry's freedom. He hated Rigel Black, his pureblood cousin, from the beginning, because Rigel had what Caelum did not: a supportive family, the respect and affection of others, and magical power. Caelum never got to go to Hogwarts. I think Caelum saw in Rigel everything that he wanted for himself. When it's revealed that Rigel is really a halfblood, it's just rubbing salt in the wound. It's one thing for him to accept Harry, who stands on her own AND accepts _him_ in a way no one else does. It's another thing entirely for him to accept Rigel, who forcibly and embarrassingly rejected him in front of his peers, and was presenting himself with another's credentials. I'm obviously not trying to excuse his bigotry, but I _do_ think that there's a lot more going on behind Caelum's reaction, and I think that Harry is not capable of seeing why Caelum would distinguish between her and Rigel (after all, _she_ knows they are the same person). She sees his intractable hatred for Rigel as intractable hatred of her (which is of course not helped by his tendency to defensively use slurs).

This brings us to the pièce de résistance:

> Quietly, she asked, "Did you make the potion for the ritual?"....

> ....Lestrange's face went perfectly blank, and she supposed that was answer enough. "I don't know what you're rambling about," he whispered. "Teaching you was a mistake," she said. He jerked away from her and yanked a basket from the stack on his way past.

Harry, being Harry, suppresses her emotions and gets to the heart of the matter. Caelum, when accused of helping a revolutionary gain a body through a very illegal and dark ritual, "goes blank"; a fairly understandable reaction. What's _really_ interesting is the way he denies it. Typical, on brand Caelum would be to scoff at her; fight back. But like his denial above (a hesitant, bad lie), Caelum's denial is weak. The words are right, but he can barely get them out. Caelum was not prepared to have this conversation with Harry. Caelum did not consider what Harry would think of his actions. Caelum was going after Rigel Black, supporting a new, upcoming and volatile Dark Lord (come on, you can't tell me that Caelum, the OC Bellatrix-spawn version of Barty Crouch JR, wouldn't choose Voldiary over Riddle). Quite possibly earning parental approval for the first time in the past. This is the first time he realizes what _Harry_ would think of what he's done, and it's had an impact. And then of course, Harry salts the none-too-fertile fields of Caelum's heart. And instead of going on the defensive (best defense is a good offence, you know) again, he retires from the field of battle, leaving poor Harry with a broken heart, that can only be soothed by Leo's muscle-bound, knife-stealing arms.

Moral of the Meta (did not read, WAAAAY too long, what were you even thinking rachel):

-Caelum is awful. Nothing new here.

-Caelum does _not_ hate Harry, nor is he motivated solely by blood purity.

-Caelum did not expect this conversation to go the way it did, nor are his actions really out of character

-Caelum _reacted_ to what Harry said. There is still hope for our beloved bigot. Sort of.

-The difficulty here is really not in what Caelum said, but what he did.

-His actions are morally problematic, yes, but at least they are targeted against a perceived enemy rather than a friend.

-Harry is going to have a hard time getting over this, because she sees his actions against Rigel as rooted solely in blood bigotry (and thus against her as well), and a personal betrayal. This is not necessarily an accurate view.

-There is still hope. THERE IS STILL HOPE DAMMIT

**Author's Note:**

> For a really meta meta, I managed to poke fun/reference at all my fellow mods/admins in the beginning note muhahaha


End file.
